Don't Break It
by robinsparkles14
Summary: I think this is my favorite one-shot that I've done so far. Belle talks to a comatose James in the hospital. It's very sweet, I hope you like it. Friday's one shot is up!


_**Hello, dearies! I hope you enjoyed yesterday's one-shot. **_  
_**So, the featured characters(s) in this one are James (because I really like Prince James.) and Regina, and it's about Belle. But this one is done in Storybrooke before Emma got to town, so James/ David is still in a coma, and Belle is directly beneath him. **_  
_**This was inspired by one of my lovely reviewers who asked if I could do something in Storybrooke, so even though I'm not as good with it, I did. **_  
_**For anyone who has not read my past fics (or anyone who is taking this the wrong way): Belle and James are not a romantic ship! Rumbelle all the way!**_  
_**Reviews are appreciated. Love always!**_  
_**"Fight for me, if it's not too late. Help me breathe again because this can't be how the story ends"-Kerrie Roberts, Rescue Me (off the OUAT soundtrack)**_

She shivers in the dark, the initial shock taking over. The smoke has cleared and she is alone in a cell. Regina hadn't changed much with this curse. Belle was still the same. Locked away in the bottom of a building, still hoping and praying to escape. She was still alone and scared. And she was still in love.

27 years. 27 years she has been sitting, wasting away in this cell, still thinking that maybe someone will find her. Still trying to have faith that people were looking for her. That HE was looking for her. That she hadn't been forgotten. Because nothing had changed in 27 years. She is still the same Belle as she was the day the curse as enacted.  
The same Belle that Prince James had met in Regina's dungeon.  
She hears heels clicking down the hallway, and no one has to tell her that it's Regina coming to check up on her.  
The small window in the door of her cell opens and Regina is staring at her. She looks different than she did before the curse. He hair is cut short, and her lips are less prominent. Her clothes are more conservative and her face is almost kinder.  
"Please," Belle squeaks, "Please let me go."  
Regina's mouth curves into a smile. "And what is there for you to go back to, my dear?" she asks cruelly.  
"He will find me," Belle says, "He will."  
"What makes you so sure?"  
"Someone made me a promise."  
Regina throws her head back and laughs. "Ah, yes. Prince James. Well, unfortunately for you, that's a promise he won't be keeping."  
The color drains from Belle's face. "Why?"  
Regina smiles again. "Come with me, child. There is something I think you will be interested to see."  
The door swings open and Belle swings her legs off the concrete slab she'd been sitting upon. "W-where are you taking me?" she asks, "Aren't you afraid I'll be seen?"  
"Of course not. There's no one here to see you."  
Belle gulps and follows Regina down the dark hallway before she stops at a door at the end of it.  
"Keep in mind," Regina says, "This world is different than the last."  
The door creaks open, and there...lying in an odd bed with strange tubes around him...is James.  
Belle gasps. "What have you done to him!" she demands, "What have you done?"  
Regina rolls her eyes. "I _thought_ I killed him," she mutters, "But he's just sleeping."  
Belle's brow furrows in confusion. "How? Why? Why is he like this?"  
"See for yourself."  
Belle strides across the floor toward the him, her hand pressed tight against her chest. She looks down at him. He looks dead and sad. He looks as if he is struggling to make his own heart beat. "James..." she says, taking hold of his hand. "Did you find your love, James? Was it everything you wanted it to be?"  
Regina narrows her eyes at the scene. "Yes. He found her, and they were married."  
Belle rubs his hand against her cheek. "That's nice," she says, "You were right. You will always find her...I just wish I could say the same for myself.  
"I miss him, James. More and more each day, I miss him," she laughs at herself, "You'd think one would give up after twenty-seven years. But I haven't. And I know you haven't either. I know you will be with her. I know you'll win."  
She sits on the edge of the strange bed, still holding his hand to her face. "You know...sometimes I want to give up. But something always tells me that I can't. That I must have faith in myself. That I must have faith in the power of true love. Do you know what it is that is always telling me this, James? It's you."  
She looks down at him and squeezes his hand tighter. "The curse will end. We will both get our happy ending. We just have to have hope. I know you have hope...and you are giving it to me. The love you shared with Snow gives me hope that one day...I can share that same love with Rumpelstiltskin.  
"We love each other, too, you know. Even though I don't know where he is, I know that he loves me, and I know that he's okay."  
She puts his hand over her heart. "Do you feel that? That's how I know he's okay. Because when Snow was hurt, you felt her pain. When he is hurt, I can feel it too. I know it would kill me if he were not alive. As long as my heart is beating, so is his."  
Regina blinks at the sight in front of her. She blinks over and over until she feels a strange wetness on her cheek. She lifts her hand and touches the tears on her face. She has not felt this kind of emotion since she killed her own father. She does not understand what it is. Why seeing the young girl talk to a comatose prince about true love is making her tear up.  
Perhaps it is because she wishes she could tell someone what it was like to lose her true love.  
Belle's kisses James's hand. "I know you will find him for me. You said you would, in this life or the next. And I trust you. I am trusting you with my true love, Prince James."  
Regina wipes away her tears and stands taller. "We're going now," she says.  
Belle smiles and kisses James softly on his forehead. "You made me a promise," she whispers, "Please, please don't break it."

_**Awwww! I had such a good time writing this one...I always love to see Gina with some emotion, and I'm totes rooting for a David/ Belle friendship when she gets out :)**_


End file.
